Lenny Kaye, Dave Alvin, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore
The Bull Run Restaurant - Shirley, MA
5/6/2026

Video Excerpts

When we heard that Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore were coming to the Bull Run with their Almost Acoustic Duo tour, we immediately bought tickets. We really like the material that they have done together, and I was even featured in the video for their version of "Get Together" back in 2018 when their record label, YepRock, called for video submissions. I sent in a clip of me dancing with Bhutanese friends at the Shelmakha Festival in 2017, and they chose to include it. Since then, Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have always held a special place in my heart.

A while after buying the tickets, they announced that Lenny Kaye would be opening the show. We were psyched! We have seen Lenny perform with Patti Smith half a dozen times in the late '90's, the last time being in 2000. Recently, when they have played locally, it has been impossible to get tickets. Lenny is putting out his first solo album at the age of 79, and is touring to support it. Leading up to the show, I saw posts on social media indicating that not only did Lenny open the show, he actually also played with Dave and Jimmie Dale on a few songs. What a treat!

Traffic was absolutely brutal, and it took us over an hour and half to get to Shirley. I was luckily able to leave work at 4 p.m., which got us there not too long after the doors opened at 5:30. We were one table over from our preferred spot, so my view was a little more obstructed than usual. I went to the merch table and saw that they had a CD of Patti and Lenny's first performance together. Though we have a lot of recordings of Patti and her band, we did not have this one. I bought it, along with a pamphlet of poetry by Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine in English and French titled "The Night / La Nuit".

Lenny took the stage with an electric guitar. We enjoyed the songs from the forthcoming album: "World Book Night", "Goin' Local", and "The Things You Leave Behind." The latter was amusing and hit close to home as we all age and wonder what to do with all of the stuff that we have accumulated over a lifetime. He also played his ode to Hank Williams, "Luke the Drifter". He read passages from his book Lightning Striking, one of which was about the making of Patti Smith Group's classic albumHorses. He then played "Ghost Dance", which he wrote (and recorded) with Patti on her Easter album. He played covers including "You Are Not Needed Now", "Love of the Common People", and a mashup of The BoxTops' "The Letter" and The Velvet Underground's "Run Run Run" which he said was like a cage match refereed by ZZ Top.

I had a feeling that this wasn't one of those shows where the artists would come out to sign and meet-and-greet afterwards, especially Lenny, who was finishing up his set first. So as he came offstage, I made a beeline over to where he was taking a photo with some fans and asked if I would get a quick selfie with him, and he said sure. It was a shame that Craig wasn't able to make it over there with me (I had to squeeze through the crowded tables), but we figured it was better for one of us to get to meet him than neither of us.

Lenny Kaye Set List:

Luke the Drifter
Goin' Local
Lightning Striking reading
World Book Night
The Things You Leave Behind
You Are Not Needed Now
Love of the Common People
Lightning Striking reading
Ghost Dance
The Letter / Run Run Run

After a short intermission, Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore took the stage. Before they could even speak, the audience launched into a spontaneous chorus of "Happy Birthday" for Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who turned 81 today.

Dave Alvin was playing an electric guitar, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore was playing an acoustic. They started off with "We're Still Here", an ode to the longevity of their careers in the face of a changing world. Next was "Betty and Dupree", a cover of an old blues song popularized by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. This is a favorite of mine from the first album that Alvin and Gilmore put out together.

The duo traded banter (Dave Alvin was especially adept at comically responding to audience member call-outs) and told stories as they made their way through a set list that included songs from their individual catalogues, as well as some covers. They brought Lenny Kaye onstage to join them for "Get Together", and he stayed for the rest of the set.

One song that is on their first album together that we had hoped that they would play, given the zeitgeist, was "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" by Woody Guthrie, but perhaps the current political situation makes it much too raw. The two of them did make it clear that they do not agree with the current situation, with quips about ballrooms when talking about Gilmore loving his home near the "Borderlands."

Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore Set List: